System and Method for Interactive Marketing

ABSTRACT

A system and method of interactive, location-based presentation and advertising that enables users with wireless network addressable communications devices to control multi-media content on network addressable screens and enables marketers to track, monitor and respond to users interactions in real time. A Proxy Gateway directs a network addressable client PC, connected to a digital display, to serve local content or pull content from one or more web servers. A wireless, network addressable device, typically a mobile phone, is used to communicate commands to the physically remote Proxy Gateway. The Proxy Gateway bridges between the communications device and the display by interpreting the commands from the communications device, forwarding them to the client PC which may pull content from the appropriate web server, or display native message content.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/666,628, filed Nov. 4, 2005, which has a 35 U.S.C. §371 filing dateof Apr. 30, 2007, titled “System and Method for Interactive Advertising”(now U.S. Pat. No. 8,886,759, issued Nov. 11, 2014), which, in turn, isa National Phase filing of, and claims priority to, PCT/US2005/40186filed on Nov. 4, 2005, which, together with this application and the'628 application, each claims priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 60/624,712, filed Nov. 4, 2004, titled “System andMethod for Interactive Marketing,” the entire contents of all of whichare hereby incorporated by reference herein, for all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to systems, methods and apparatus forcontrolling and/or navigating content on network addressable screens viaelectronic communications devices, and particularly to systems, methodsand apparatus for the interactive control of screen content via a proxygateway remote to both the screen and the control device, and connectedto the screen and the control device by dissimilar networks.

BACKGROUND ART

Impulse purchases, in which an unplanned decision to purchase a productis made at a point of purchase, account, by some estimates, for as muchas 50% of retail sales.

Merchants are, therefore, highly desirous of extending the persuasivepower of television, and the interactivity of the Internet, to influencepotential customers when they are at, or close to, a point of purchase.In particular, they would like to provide high impact, location-basedadvertising that reaches potential customers physically at, or near, alocation where the items being advertised can be viewed or purchased.

Furthermore, other than the web, merchants have no way to interact withconsumers beyond the threshold of their physical space.

In addition to increasing sales, merchants are also desirous of usingsuch location-based systems to capture related information such as thecontact information of a potential customer who showed an interest in aproduct, but did not commit to a purchase. Such contact information maybe useful in, for instance, further targeted marketing of the product.

Existing attempts to provide point-of-purchase advertising includelocation-based advertising on location-based media such as “Out-of-home”digital media networks. These are essentially private televisionchannels run by companies, organizations and advertisers in locationssuch as shopping malls, retail chains, or franchise operations that runconventional, television promotional material at or close to the pointof purchase.

Other examples of point-of-purchase advertising include the interactiveretail marketing systems designed to help consumers to find specificinformation on products and services. These include touch-screens, at orclose to the point of purchase, used to promote products or to offersales promotions or details such as pricing and availability.

There are, however, no existing point-of-purchase presentation systemsthat optimally leverage the combined power of high quality videodisplays and Internet-like personalized interactivity.

For example, a consumer looking in through the window of a store cannotoperate the interactive systems detailed above, because none of them canbe navigated remotely. This is problematic for a merchant wishing tocapture the attention of consumers walking past their storewindow—especially when their store is closed. Furthermore, these systemscannot capture specific user information such as a mobile phone numberwithout the user entering that data into the system.

Some advertising billboards or posters in retail spaces have been usedto provide additional information to passersby by downloading thatinformation into a personal digital assistant (PDA) using wirelesstechnology. For instance, AdAlive Inc. of Lexington, Mass. and WiderayCorp. of San Francisco, Calif., are examples of companies that havemarketed systems for consumers to download additional advertisinginformation from existing advertising billboards or posters into Palmhandheld computers or cell phones using wireless technology, such asinfra-red transmission or the Bluetooth protocol. However, these systemstypically use the low visual impact, small screen of a handheld deviceto display the additional information, and lack a feedback loop back tothe actual advertising message. Because of this, the systems fail tomaximize their impact on consumers. For example, they are unable toupdate the primary advertising medium, the existing advertisingbillboard or poster, by changing the content in response to feedback.

Internet-connected advertising systems, sometimes referred to asOut-of-home digital media networks or narrowcast networks, provideadvertising that can be sent to specific locations, at specific timesfrom a central control. One example of a company providing this serviceis Captivate Media Inc. of Westford, Mass., which provides video contentto a network of screens in elevators. The screens are not interactiveand have no direct way of measuring their effectiveness.

As with television, billboard advertisers have to wait many weeks ormonths before learning of the effectiveness of their campaigns.

Direct marketing systems, such as direct mail, target specificdemographics with sales offers. The more accurate the marketer can be intargeting their required customer, the more likely it will be that theywill achieve a higher “conversion rate,” that is the rate at whichprospective sales are converted into actual sales. Such systemstypically have low conversion rates below 2%, and are slow to feed backperformance metrics, in turn leading to slow improvement cycles.

Closed-loop direct marketing systems, such as direct email or websitebanner advertisements, improve the information the marketer has aboutthe potential purchaser as they connect marketers with their customersin a continuous feed-back cycle, often capturing customer's reactionsand strategically integrating those reactions into a targeted promotionsuch that the results are dramatically enhanced. Such campaignsinvariably appear as “junk mail” as they necessarily target a wide groupof prospective customers in order to convert a subset of that group.This results in a poor consumer reaction and experience. With aconversion rate around 2%, they are more economic for marketers thantraditional direct mail and they are better suited to feed backperformance metrics. However, the promotions are regarded as invasiveand frequently undesirable.

Mobile communications devices, capable of browsing the Internet, arebecoming more sophisticated every day and are technically capable ofproviding many, if not all of the features of a computer connected tothe Internet. Whilst many people have access to services on the web viaa mobile communications device, the reality is that devices designed formobility tend to have smaller screens than desktop computers,televisions, and out-of-home screens. As a result, products and servicesare difficult to discover and/or access. Flipping open a phone,selecting a web browser, typing in a web site address, then clicking orsearching for the specific product information can be too complex formany consumers. It has been claimed that every “click” on a website canlose up 25-33% of a website's visitors, which gives the marketer amaximum of 4 clicks to address consumers' interests. Marketers are,therefore, keenly aware of the need to reach consumers with the minimumnumber of clicks.

Web-based systems can leverage information pertaining to user'spreferences, by using “cookies” on a user's computer and inviting theuser to click through various offers. These systems are not suited toretail environments, as the users are away from their own computers.

Internet-connected kiosks sited in retail environments can automatesales and promotions. These systems target one customer at a time andtypically serve fixed applications such as tickets, internet connection,or cash machines. A problem with kiosks is that the user is required totouch or type to engage with the system, i.e. physical contact isrequired in order to engage, therefore the system cannot be placedbehind a physical protective barrier, such as behind the window of thestorefront and still allow users to access the system. A further problemis that these systems are not ideally placed externally due to weather.The system can't support more than one user at a time.

Telephone systems and call centers with interactive voice responsesystems can provide 24/7 support for callers, but they do not providevisual information to the caller.

What is needed is a method and system for location-based display ofmulti-media content that overcomes these problems, particularly the lackof interactivity or the reliance on small, low impact screens.

SUMMARY OF EMBODIMENTS

The present invention provides a system and method of interactive,location-based presentation and advertising using network addressablescreens that enable the interactive display of multi-media content andthe real-time tracking, or monitoring of a user interaction with thepresentation.

In a preferred embodiment the interactive, location-based advertisingand content is provided by a platform that enables mobile communicationsdevices such as, but not limited to cellular phones, to be used tocontrol and access content and data on network addressable screens via adistributed web-based service with a closed-loop marketing system anddatabase. In particular, cellular phones may be used to interactivelycontrol presentations on location-based screens that may be, but are notlimited to, high-definition, large format display panels.

Such a system allows merchants to attract mobile consumers usingweb-based content such as, but not limited to, video, presented onnetwork addressable screens that may, for instance, be connected to theInternet. Furthermore, because the screens may be controlled via anetwork addressable, mobile communications device, the system can recordthe user's responses to the presentation and may update the displayscreen in response to the user's commands. Moreover, the user'sinteraction may be logged and the user's patterns of interest archivedin a database. The mobile consumer can control and/or access content anddata that they see on the merchant's screen by entering commands ontheir mobile communications device. The merchant can access the databaseto see consumers' interests and follow up on specific queries.

In a further preferred embodiment, the interactive, location-baseddisplay consists of displaying a media presentation on a networkaddressable screen. The presentation typically has one or more imagecontent elements and is served by a remote content sever via a firstnetwork. Interactive control of the presentation is achieved using awireless, network addressable communications device. This device isaddressable using a second network that is dissimilar to the firstnetwork. The device is, therefore, used to send commands that may beselected in response to the content elements of the presentation, to aproxy gateway, via the second network. The proxy gateway then bridgesbetween the two, dissimilar networks. The proxy gateway is typicallylocated remote to the network addressable screen, the content server andthe communications device, and is typically linked to the content serverand the screen by the first network, while being linked to thecommunications device by the second network. Bridging between thenetworks typically includes automatically generating a proxy command forthe commands received from the communications device. The proxy commandsmay also be automatically associated with the appropriate content serverand automatically routed to that content server over the first network.

Having two such networks bridged by a proxy server allows a number ofapplications to function, including the ability for a search, orjourney, started on one network to be continued on another. Forinstance, a user may surf to a website on a home computer and, afterresearch, locate a desired type of object, and a place that the objectis on sale. The user may bookmark that object and location by providingtheir cellular phone number and bookmark that object. The user may thenphysically go to the location where the object is available, and phone anumber on a network addressable screen at that location. When the systemreceives the call, it will recognize the cellular number, and displayinstructions related to the bookmarked object such as, but not limitedto, displaying the particular aisle the object is located in, or thenature of accessories available at the location that may be useful withthe bookmarked object.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be more fully understood by referring to thefollowing Detailed Description of Specific Embodiments in conjunctionwith the Drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a high level view of the system.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of the interaction between the system and auser.

FIG. 3 depicts an example of a real-estate application.

FIG. 4 is a schematic overview of system architecture for implementing apreferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram outlining the steps taken in a client loggingon to a system in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a user initiating an event in accordancewith a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a layout of a preferred embodimentof the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

The present invention relates to systems, method and apparatus forlocation-based content presentation that combine the ability to makehigh quality audio-visual presentations with the scalability,interactivity and traceably of Internet or web-based multimediapresentations.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the interactive control ofinformation on a network addressable screen is accomplished by a displaycontroller that is typically a mobile, network addressablecommunications device. The communications device, however typicallyoperates on a first network using a first command protocol, while thedisplay operates on a second network having a second command protocol,with the two networks being dissimilar to each other. The interactivecontrol of the content displayed on the network addressable screen bythe display controller is, therefore, accomplished by using a proxygateway. The proxy gateway receives commands in the first protocol fromthe communications device, it then translates and generates proxycommands in the second protocol.

These proxy commands may then be sent to a content server that has beenregistered with the proxy gateway as being associated with the networkaddressable screen and the network addressable communications device.The content server may be, but is not limited to, a web server.

The presentation served by the content server to the network addressablescreen may include, but is not limited to, image content elements,either as graphics or as video or a combination thereof.

The proxy gateway may be located to be physically remote from thenetwork addressable screens, the wireless, communications device and thecontent server. The proxy gateway may automatically bridge between thedissimilar networks and their dissimilar operating protocols, by meansof software modules running on general purpose digital computingdevices. The bridging software modules may automatically generate proxycommands for the commands received from the communications device,automatically associate the proxy commands to the content server andthen automatically rout the proxy commands via a communications networkto the linked content server.

It is worth noting that the input need not to be limited to acommunication device on a wireless network, but may be any networkaddressable communications device including, but not limited to a touchscreen, an infrared sensor, an electronic cameral or any electronicinput signaling.

On receiving the proxy command routed from the proxy gateway, theautomatic content server may serve additional content to the networkaddressable screen via the communications network. The additionalcontent preferably includes further image content element.

In a specific preferred embodiment of the invention, the networkaddressable screen may be a high quality video display such as, but notlimited to a high definition, large screen plasma or LCD televisionscreen in a store window, connected to the internet via an IP (InternetProtocol) enabled appliance such as, but not limited to, a personalcomputing (PC) device. The content being presented on the high qualitydisplay may be, but is not limited to, a web-page fed to the networkaddressable screen via the Internet and containing multi-media contentelements including, but not limited to, high quality images, text orvideo.

The network addressable communications device used as an interactive,presentation controller may be, but is not limited to, a cell phone. Theuser may for instance, phone a telephone number displayed on the networkaddressable screen. The call to that number may, for instance, then berouted via a wireless telephone network to a proxy gateway that is alsolinked to the screen. The number called may for instance, identify thenetwork addressable screen. The user making the call may for instance beidentified and tracked by their telephone number.

Interactive control of the presentation, which may be, but is notlimited to, a web-page, may be made by, for instance, the user pressingnumbers on their phone, issuing voice commands that are mediated byappropriate voice-recognition software or by sending short messagesystem (SMS) protocol messages.

In a preferred embodiment the web pages have well defined HTML tags,included in the normal hypertext markup language (HTML) format. In thisway, a content server that receives messages from the user via the proxygateway can translate those messages into required proxy commands viaappropriate software modules.

Various features and methods of the invention will now be described inmore detail in the context of an interactive self-help system andmethod, and by reference to the accompanying diagrams in which, as faras possible, like numbers represent like elements.

FIG. 1 illustrates the basic components of a preferred embodiment of thesystem. A network addressable screen 101 displays content 103 which istagged by a content identifier, 104. The network addressable screen 101,is typically but not exclusively located at a retail location or publicspace, and may be individually addressable in order to display marketingdata of a kind determined by its physical location, and may be capableof displaying messages, information, interactive software, marketing andadvertising campaigns in multimedia form that may include, but is notlimited to, text, video, images or audio, or some combination thereof.

Each network addressable screen in the system may display an identifyingnumber, or screen ID, 102, that is unique to that screen. Multiplescreen IDs can be associated with a screen, for example, to allow fordifferent modes of connectivity or further enhance the mobile userexperience by enabling multiple users to engage with one screen. Aclient manager, 105 may be connected to the network addressable screen101 and to a network 106 such as the Internet. A user's mobile networkaddressable communications device 108, can communicate with the systemvia a wireless network 109. A proxy gateway 107A may bridge between thewireless network 109 and a second network 106 that may for instance bethe Internet.

The proxy gateway 107A may include, but is not limited to, softwaremodules that translate the specific originating protocol 109 into astandardized and universal event format such as an XML protocolincluding, but not limited to the ReachPointEventXML protocol ofLocaModa Inc. of Somerville, Mass., and generate proxy commands whichare sent to content server 110A via the client manager 105. It is worthnoting that any originating protocol command, such as, but not limitedto an SMS or IVR protocol command, may be translated into a universaland uniform event and may be sent to a content server 110A. The proxycommand generating module may also be wholly or partially located in arelated messaging system communications interface 107.

An Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system communications interface 107,may for instance, receive and interpret consumer commands that are proxycommands for those inputted on their mobile communications device andrelays those commands to a system manager 110. The system manager 110may log consumer information and pass the commands over the Internet tothe client manager 105 that may then update the screen 101.

Alternatively the proxy commands generated by the proxy gateway 107A maybe associated with a particular content server 110A, that is typically aweb server, and routed from the proxy gateway 107A to the content server110A via the network 106. On receiving the proxy commands, the contentserver 110A may then serve further display elements 103 to the networkaddressable screen 101 via the network 106 and the client manager 105.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the networkaddressable screen 101 used in the system and method of the presentinvention may be any suitable electronic display device that is capableof being connected to a network and displaying digital content. Thenetwork addressable screen 101 may for instance be, but not limited to,a projector, a Light Emitting Diode (LED), a plasma screen, a liquidcrystal display (LCD) screen or a cathode ray tube (CRT).

In a preferred embodiment, the user's network addressable communicationsdevice 108 may be a cellular phone, routing messages via a cellularnetwork 109. One of ordinary skill in the art will, however, appreciatethat the system and method of this invention may also be implementedusing any network addressable communications devices 108 that aredesigned to work with a suitable wireless network. The networkaddressable communications device may work with a network such as, butnot limited to a 802.11 (WiFi) wireless system, a Bluetooth network, anInfra Red or optical network, a Zigbee protocol network, a WiMaxnetwork, or any suitable combination thereof, so long as that networkenables wireless control of the network addressable screen 101 by themethods of the present invention.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the network addressable device108 may be a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) enabled device. Such aVoIP enabled device may facilitate a more integrated design in which oneor more of the web components of the system are within the mobile devicerather than remote. For instance, one or more of the protocol bridgingsoftware modules may reside on the VoIP enabled communications device108, and may be programmed in languages such as but limited to BREW orJ2ME. In a further embodiment, the mobile device 108 may include some orall of the software modules required for speech recognition.

A user, seeing content of interest on the network addressable screen,101, may interact with that content by dialing the screen ID, 102, ontheir network addressable communications device 108. The screen ID 102,may be a phone number for voice calls which can be managed by anInteractive Voice Response (IVR) system, or a phone number or short codenumber such as, but not limited to, a 4 or 5 digital number as sometimesused for making data calls such as Short Message System (SMS) calls.

The consumer's interaction may be transmitted as a message via awireless network 109, to a proxy gateway 107A using a first set ofprotocols that are native to the wireless network such as, but notlimited to, IVR, SMS or VoiceXML. The proxy gateway 107A may thentranslate the message from the native protocol of the wireless network109 into a proxy message in a standardized uniform protocol, such as,but not limited to the ReachPointEventXML protocol of, LocaModa Inc. ofSomerville, Mass., for the second network.

The proxy gateway 107A may then send the proxy message to a client, suchas the client manager 105 via a second network 106, such as but notlimited to, the Internet, using the standardized uniform protocol whichmay be the native protocol of the second network.

The client manager 105 may then receive the message and execute theappropriate function called for by the message such as, but not limitedto, fetching additional content elements from the content server 110Avia the second network 106.

In this way the proxy gateway 107A may translate a message into auniform event representation that can be sent to any client, such as theclient manager 105, and that client may respond with a further messagein a universal response format representation that the proxy gateway mayconvert back into the native format of the originating network to bereturned to the originating network or device. In such a system, addinga new gateway or new type of network only requires doing the translatingto and from that gateway or network into the universal eventrepresentation and response formats without the clients having to haveknowledge of the update or change. In a language analogy, the systemspeaks Esperanto so that rather than having to translate English toFrench, and German and then having to do a new translation between eachof the languages every time a new language is introduced, only a newlanguage to Esperanto and back is required when a new language is added,thus avoiding the N**2 (N Squared) scaling problem

In an alternative embodiment, the proxy gateway 107A may generate proxycommands or interact with a communications management interface 107 togenerate the proxy commands. In such an embodiment, the communicationsmanagement interface 107 may translate a command such as, but notlimited to, an IVR or SMS command into a universal ReachPointEventXML(i.e., Esperanto) that is sent to Client Manager 105, which willgenerate a corresponding and designated event. In one preferredembodiment, Client Manager 105 may execute the ReachPointEventXML event,resulting in one or more actions such as, but not limited to: (a)Generate a HTTP request of a well-defined HTML document and/or (b) playa local video file, and/or (c) send a response back to the user; allaccording to, for instance, unique XML protocol events such as theproprietary ReachPointEventXML methods defined by LocaModa, Inc ofSomerville, MA.

Such a system of proxy commands is effectively a uniform framework ableto translate a native protocol from any network to a universal andstandardized protocol of another network. In a preferred embodiment, thenative protocol is one of an IVR network protocol and an SMS networkprotocol, and the universal standardized protocol is an XML protocol,such as, but not limited to, the ReachPointResponseXML andReachPointExvent XML, as implemented by LocaModa Inc. of Somerville,Mass.

The consumer's interaction, which may be, but is not limited to, aresponse to view more content on the screen, an answer to a poll orcompetition, a request to download some software or some combinationthereof, may be interpreted, executed and logged by the proxy gateway107A, web server 110A, the communications management interface 107 orsome combination thereof.

The consumer's interaction may, for instance, be received by the SystemManager 110, which may forward it to the client manager 105, which mayupdate the location content and, if applicable, may send a response backto the system manager 110 to relay back to the mobile user.

The client manager 105 may send, if applicable, a response or an updateto the location screen 101. That update may, for example, instruct thescreen to display new content. The update may instead or also performsome function such as, but not limited to, sending an answer to a poll,or incrementing or decrementing a vote, or perform some combination ofsuch functions.

The client system manager 105 may also send a response via the systemmanager 110 to the user's mobile communications device 108. That messagemay, for example, thank the consumer for their interest in the content.The message could combine information from the consumer's profile orprevious transactions, to create a more personal message. In a preferredembodiment of this invention, a message sent to a user's mobilecommunications device 108 would compliment a message sent simultaneouslyto the location-based, network addressable screen 101.

In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the presentationdisplayed on the location-based, network addressable screen 101 (alsoknown as a display or a location display) may be obtained from a webserver that is a content server 110A. The web or content server 110Amay, for instance, be a third party web site that is proxy commandenabled or LocaTag enabled. The web server 110A may be responsive toproxy commands communicated from the mobile communications device 108interpreted, in part, by software modules running on the client manager105, or some combination thereof. The web pages may be native HTML, ormay be augmented with additional HTML commands to further facilitate theinteraction between the user and the web pages, as described in moredetail below.

In a real estate application for example, client manager 105 may respondto a consumer's iteration by instructing the IVR system to play an audioprompt on their mobile communications device 108 such as “Press 1 to seeHouse A.” Simultaneously, the client manager 105 may relay correspondingvisual prompts to the location-based network addressable screen 101.When the consumer enters the content ID 104 via their mobilecommunications devices, by, for instance, pressing on corresponding keyson their mobile communications device 108, client manager 105 mayinterpret the consumer's input and send an appropriate update to thelocation screen 101.

All consumer interactions may be logged by the system manager and/or3.sup.rd party website, 110A and stored in a database which outputsreport logs 111. Such system logs 111 can be very valuable to merchantsas they may include information such as, but not limited to, location,time, date, the consumer's telephone number, and their product interest,or any combination thereof. Those of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that such logs may be integrated into other aspects of abusiness such as, but not limited to, a merchant's Customer RelationshipManagement (CRM) database, that may be capable of building profiles ofcustomers interacting with the system.

Whilst location data may be known by the system from the screen ID 102,it may also be supplemented by using the mobile communications device'sarea code if available. Furthermore, if the mobile communications deviceis able to output digital location information, for example such as itscell location or Global Positioning System (GPS) co-ordinates, thesystem may make use of this information instead of, or in addition to,the other location data.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, there are several possiblesystems and methods of display management and content storage that maybe used, dependent to some extent on the following considerations.

For bandwidth constrained applications or applications with largecontent files, such as, for instance, video files, that are required tobe displayed, the system may have a client manager such as 105 at thelocation, pre-fetching and directly serving content to the screen 101.In such a configuration, the system only needs to pass the navigationcommands to the client manager 105, which then serves up the locallystored content to the screen 101. New content can be sent via the systemmanager 110, in the background of a running application or duringperiods when the system is less active, as is done in, for instance, webcaching. In any case, this design configuration is based on the conceptthat whilst the responsiveness of the system to user's commands happensin real time, new content is less critical and is therefore not requiredin real time.

Where bandwidth considerations are less critical, content may be serveddirectly over the Internet 106 from the content manager 110A to screen101.

In a further embodiment of the invention, there may be an adaptivesoftware management system, capable of changing content on the locationscreens, such that it is optimized for its intended purpose. Theadaptive management system analyzes the results or feedback from usersof the system and may then make changes to marketing that is notperforming to expected targets, by for example, changing the timing orstyle of content and measuring whether those changes produce better orworse results. Over time, changes initiated by the adaptive managementsystem that improve results may be kept, thus evolving campaigns to beoptimally effective.

In a further embodiment of the invention, there may be a proximitysensor, mounted, for instance, on or near each display, in order tomeasure the number of people passing within range of a location screen.Such a sensor may also be used to activate content or programs or turnthe location screen on or off when it detects activity.

In accordance with yet another feature of the invention, data andcontent such as but not limited to information, ring tones or games canbe downloaded to a mobile communications device for (i) use for alimited time or (ii) use for a number of uses or (iii) use within rangeof the networked computing device. The same system can permit transfersof the downloaded data in a format that enables the portable computingdevice that downloaded it to transmit a copy of it to another devicetogether with rules for the usage of that copy.

The invention thus provides for an interactive direct marketing systemand method, for typical use in public and retail spaces, capable ofmonetizing and/or enhancing the relationship between mobile consumersand merchants.

The general sequence of steps that are performed in responding to aconsumer's “remote-control” requests will now be described withreference to FIG. 2. This process is intended to illustrate, and notlimit, the scope of the invention.

A network addressable screen displays various messages encouragingconsumers to interact with it. For example a screen might display amessage such as “Call 1-800-NEW-HOME to see houses for sale”. Theconsumer, responding to such a prompt calls the displayed number. Thesystem receives this call 201, and plays and/or displays a correspondingmenu, 202, for example “Thank you for calling, please press 1 to seeHouse A, press 2 to see House B . . . ” This message may, for instance,be played via the IVR and/or displayed on the network addressablescreen. The consumer may respond to such a message by making theirdesired choice and pressing a corresponding key on their mobilecommunications device. The system may receive the consumer's choice 203and display the appropriate content, 204. Steps 202, 203 and 204 may berepeated until the consumer terminates the session.

The system may log all the consumer's interactions 205 such asinterested content and time of interaction and can include the captureof the consumer's telephone number if the consumer and/or networkoperator have not blocked or disabled such information. Also, dependingon the application, the system can request that the consumer leavestheir name and other details as a voice message, before terminating thesession.

This process is shown figuratively in FIG. 3 from the consumer'sperspective. A consumer 301, sees content on a screen 300, for examplein the window of a real estate agency. The consumer is interested inHouse B, 302 and calls the number displayed on the screen 300 via amobile communications device 303.

FIG. 4 is a schematic overview of a system's architecture forimplementing a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The RP clients and applications 402 include a client manager 105 and acontent server 110 that is typically a web-server. The client manager105 includes a content manager 406 and an RP client that deals withloca-tag 408.

The RP platform or proxy gateway 411 includes and RP server 410, anaccounts database 412, and IVR bridge 414, and SMS bridge 416, an HTMLproxy gateway bridging module 418, an IVR Gateway 420 and an SMS gateway421. The IVR Gateway 420 and the SMS gateway 421 are typically servers.The IVR system 426 and SMS system 427 are typically networks. Thecommunications device 108 may itself contain software modules 432.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram outlining the steps taken in a client loggingon to a system in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

In step 502, when the personal computer (PC) machine, 404, is turned on,a loca-tag manager and a web browser 406 is started. This loca-tagmanager instantiates an embedded ReachPoint (RP) client 408 and that RPclient initiates a connection to the server 410 and prepares the webbrowser for content display.

In step 504, the RP client 408 reads a username, such as the ReachPoint(RP) username, and an associated password from a local disk, hard driveor other memory device on the PC 404. If no account information isfound, the RP client 408 may use the PC MAC address as username. The RPclient 408 contacts RP platform 411 that is a proxy gateway. The proxygateway, RP platform 411, starts an RP server 410 using an address suchas, but not limited to, <username>.reachpoint.website.net. The RP client408 may also send the username, the encrypted password, and hardware MACaddress of the PC 404. The encryption may, for instance, be performedusing the well-known CRA-MD5 algorithm.

In step 508, the RP server 410 receives the login information, andcontacts the account SQL database 412.

In step 510, the RP server 410 queries the account SQL database 412 todetermine if the login information is valid. The accounts SQL database412 typically stores all the Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR)telephone numbers, the short messaging system (SMS) codes, client readonly environment (ENV) variables, and client writable persistent data.The accounts SQL database 412 may also have an “auto-set” flag that canbe toggled through, for instance, an account manager software module,that allows for a one-time username/password transmission so that RPclients can be boot-strapped without needing a keyboard.

In step 512 m, the RP server 410 now has all the allowed featuressupported by the RP client 408 such as, but not limited to the SMS andIVR allowed features. The RP server 410 registers with each proxygateway bridging module such as, but not limited to, the IVR proxygateway bridging module 414, the SMS proxy gateway bridging module 416and the HTML proxy gateway bridging module 418. This registration may,for instance, take the form of obtaining one or more codes andregistering the events that those codes should map to the given user.

In step 514, the registration may proceed by means of a SQL query to anappropriate database on the appropriate proxy gateway bridging module.The SQL query typically returns a list of reserved codes for the RPusername of the RP client 408. If no reserved codes are found oravailable, a code is assigned out of an unused-pool. If no codes areavailable, an error is returned. A SQL update on the appropriate proxygateway bridging module associates the codes with the assigned usernameand the appropriate RP server 410.

In step 516, the RP server 410 now has all codes and has registered themas being associated with the given user, located on this server. Thisdata may now be returned to the RP client 408.

In step 518, the RP client 408 receives all codes as assigned from theaccounts SQL database and the various proxy gateways bridging module.The RP client 408 does not get to request types or quantities of codes,as these are set in the accounts databases.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a user initiating an event in accordancewith a preferred embodiment of the present invention. In particular,FIG. 6 shows the flow-of-events for a client dial-in using aninteractive voice receiver (IVR) system.

In step 602, a user enters an identifier such as, but not limited to, atelephone number displayed on an interactive, location-based displaysystem screen 300.

In step 604, an IVR server 420 receives the call, and sends an event,such as but not limited to a “New Call” event and the associateddialed-from and dialed-to numbers, to the IVR proxy gateway bridgingmodule 414.

In step 606, the IVR proxy gateway bridging module 414 receives theevent, including the dialed-from, and the dialed-to numbers.

In step 608, the IVR proxy gateway bridging module 414 queries its owndatabase, which may be, but is not limited to, a SQL database fordialed-to numbers associated with RP usernames. The IVR proxy gatewaybridging module 414 may also check if any RP username found allows forsimultaneous multiple dial-ins. The result of the query is typically anRP server address and username, or an error message.

In step 610, the IVR proxy gateway bridging module 414 encodes the datait has received, or found, into an appropriate format such as, but notlimited to an eXtended hypertext Markup Language (XML) format. In apreferred embodiment, the XML format is known as ReachPointEventXML. Thedata encapsulating the event is then forwarded to the appropriate RPserver 410.

In step 612, the XML encoded event is passed to the identified RP client408, or added to the client queue if another event is in-progress.

In step 614, the RP client 408 receives the XML encoded event, which ina preferred embodiment may be a ReachPointEventXML event. The RP client408 decodes the XML and, if an appropriate tag such as a LocaTag isfound, the RP client 408 may decode it and may invoke an associatedaction in the web browser 406.

In step 616, the web browser 406 responds to the “clicked” or selectedevent. This may, for instance take the form of fetching content such asan HTML page, or component, located at a universal resource locator(URL) that is an address at a loca-tag enabled website 422 running on aweb server 424.

In step 618, the LocaTag-enabled web site 422 receives the request ofevent, and sends a reply that may be an HTML page or component.

In step 620, the RP client 408 received the reply and if the replycontains a LocaTag, encodes it in appropriate XML format, such asReachPointResponseXML.

In step 622, the RP server 410 receives any reply. If there are anyadditional events bound for the RP client 408, they may now be sentindividually or pipelined, as appropriate.

In step 624, the IVR proxy gateway bridging module 414 translates theXML format response, which may for instance be in ReachPointResponseXML,back to the native format of the IVR system 426 network.

In step 626, the native format reply is sent over the IVR system 426network back to the user's network addressable communications device430, so that the user receives the reply.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a preferred embodiment of thepresent invention. A user 108A opts-in to multi-media content on alocation-based ReachPoint screen such as, but not limited to, a net-workaddressable screen 101, by either dialing a number in an IVR-basedapplications or texting a number or a shortcode in an SMS-basedapplications, using a network addressable communications device 108.

The user's call is sent via a wireless network that may be, but is notlimited to a cellular network 109 and either an SMS aggregator (notshown) or an IVR service (not shown) to a Proxy Gateway 107A.

The Proxy Gateway 107A receives the user's call. With UVR calls, the IVRsystem will typically answer the call and request that the user 108enters a screen ID. With SMS calls, the system typically requires that aScreen ID is sent along with the number or short code sent to access thesystem.

Subject to the message type, the Proxy Gateway 107A translates themessage into a uniform event that gets sent to the required destination.

The ReachPoint Client (RPC), typically embedded in a client manager 105,receives the event and can then decide how best to execute the usersintentions. The RPC may, for instance, fetch any required content suchas, but not limited to fonts, jpegs, page styles, movies or somecombination thereof, either from a cache memory or from a web server,that may be a content server 110A via the internet 106.

The network addressable screen 101 then displays the content accordingto user's interactions. The user 108A may then see and may choose torespond to the screen 101's display.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a layout of a preferred embodimentof the present invention. The layout shows the communications from anetwork addressable communications device 108 via a wireless network 109to a proxy gateway 107A.

The proxy gateway 107A contains an SMS gateway 421, an IVR gateway 420and another gateway 430. The other gateway may be, but is not limited toa Blue tooth gateway, a VoIP gateway or a WiFi gateway. There is also anSMS bridge 416, an IVR bridge 414 and another bridge 432 and theirassociated databases.

Communications between the gateways and the bridges is typically in thenative protocol of the gateway, such as, but not limited to VoiceXMLfrom the IVR gateway. Communications between the bridges and the ReachPoint server 410 is in a Uniform Event/Response protocol that istypically a standardized XML protocol such as, but not limited to theLocaModa defined ReachPointEventXML and ReachPointResponseXML.

The proxy gateway 410 communicates over a network 110A such as, but notlimited to, the Internet to a client manager 105. This communications isin the Uniform Event/Response protocol. The client manager 105 includesa content manager 406 and associated database. The content manager 406may communicate with local clients such as, but not limited to a LocaTagclient 408, a Flash client 434 and another client 436 using the UniformEvent/response protocol. The clients may then communicate with thecontent server 110A, commonly also known as a web server, usinghypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), a protocol commonly used in Internetcommunications to transfer HTML pages.

Someone of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the ReachPointclient (RPC) need not be physically located near the content manager anddisplay. Additional post processing after the client event is receivedcould be performed and sent to a screen(s) for example to allow displaymirroring.

Someone of ordinary skill in the art will also appreciate that aReachPoint Client (RPC) can be dynamically executed over the web, bydownloading a software implementation written in a web compatiblearchitecture, such as JAVA Bytecode, or Flash Action Script.

The marketer may also enable their website, located on the contentserver 110A, to continue the user experience by including a mobile phonefield on their website that links to the LocaModa user database. Theuser's location session can then be associated with the relevant websiteinformation. For example a user browsing a realtor's website afterbrowsing the realtor's location-based screen, may be shown a house theybrowsed on the realtors' location-based screen.

As described above, in a preferred embodiment of the present invention,a digital interactive marketing system and method consists of at leastone display device located in a distinct geographic location and coupledto a network. The system is capable of providing content over thatnetwork to each display device in the network. Each display device has aunique identifier. There is also a unique identifier for every browsablepiece of content on each display device. The invention may also includea second network, capable of receiving communications from, andtransmitting communications to, an electronic communications device.Connected to this second network is a means for receiving a request fromthe electronic communications device for a particular view on a displaydevice. The system further includes a communications managementinterface capable of guiding, responding to, outputting and logging auser initiated communication from an electronic communications device,and a content management system capable of receiving, storing andsending commands for content or the actual content over a network, acontent management system capable of associating content with uniqueidentifiers, a content management system capable of receiving andresponding to instructions to direct content to other parts of thesystem, such as but not limited to, any or all display devices, whetherindividually or severally, or storage mediums, or other contentmanagement systems. The system is further capable of providingnavigation prompts and system instructions to a communicationsmanagement interface, and to the display devices.

In a further embodiment, the system may further include a customerlogging system, capable of capturing and storing any voice or dataentered by callers to the system, building profiles of customers andrecording their interactions. The system may log various customerrelated data including, but not limited to a caller telephone number, ascreen telephone number, a product code, a decision code thatencapsulates events such as, but not limited to, whether a customerdecided to buy, or decided to bookmark an item, a time of call and aduration of a call.

In a further embodiment, the system may further include an extensiblemessage schema, capable of recognizing that a message sent to the systemby a user, is intended for a specific location and means for displayingcontent on a specific display device or a plurality of display devices.

In a preferred embodiment of the system, the network capable of couplingthe system with the display devices, is the Internet, and the content ona display device is video, graphics or text.

In a further preferred embodiment of the system, the unique identifierfor each display device is displayed on the display device and is one ofa telephone number, a telephone number plus an extension number, a ShortMessage System (SMS) short code, a SMS short code plus keyword, anelectronic mail address, an instant message address or a combinationthereof. (Note: Screen ID might be additional to phone number, ex.,NYC123)

In a further preferred embodiment of the system, the unique identifierfor every browseable piece of content on each display device is one of anumber, a letter or alpha-numeric code, a product code such as but notlimited to a brochure code, or a house listing code, or a UPC code orsome combination thereof.

In a further preferred embodiment of the system, the network capable ofreceiving communications from and transmitting communications toelectronic communications devices, is a wireless network such as but notlimited to cellular, 802.11 (WiFi), Bluetooth, 802.15.4 (ZigBee), WiMax,or Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or a combination thereof.

In a further preferred embodiment of the system, the user's electroniccommunications device is a mobile wireless device, such as but notlimited to a mobile phone, handheld computer, laptop computer orpersonal digital assistant (PDA).

In a further preferred embodiment of the system the communicationsmanagement interface capable of guiding, responding to, outputting andlogging a user initiated communication is one of an Interactive VoiceResponse (IVR) system, that may be capable of handling a plurality ofcallers, and that may be capable of voice recognition, and a ShortMessage System Center (SMSC), that may be capable of handling aplurality of callers.

In a further preferred embodiment of the system, the content managementsystem may be connected directly to a display device to avoid having tocommunicate large content files over a network.

In a further preferred embodiment of the system, the navigationalprompts sent via the user's electronic communications device may be oneof voice prompts over an IVR system that may compliment or match promptsgraphically represented on the display device and data prompts sent informats such as but not limited to HTTP, XML, SMS, MMS, or a combinationthereof.

In a further preferred embodiment of the system, the Messaging ProxyGateways, are constructed using XML, a universal and standardizedformat, such that messages may to be switched seamlessly betweenmultiple proxy gateways and clients. The messages may additionally besent and received in real time.

In a further preferred embodiment of the system, the messaging proxygateways may further support services such as, but not limited to,internet protocol (IP) services including streaming audio, streamingvideo and Internet telephony, or any combination thereof.

In a further embodiment of the system, there may also be a qualificationinterface, capable of prompting a user to respond to queries that helpthe system direct the user's message according to rules set by a systemcontroller.

In a further embodiment of the system, there may also be an interfaceenabling the consumer to download data, the data being one of a ringtone, a game, a graphics file, a music file, and a video file or acombination thereof.

In a further embodiment of the system, the IVR system format isVoiceXML.

In a further embodiment of the system, user specific data is captured,that may be captured from the user's electronic communications devicesuch as but not limited to, a mobile phone number, area code, cell IDand GPS co-ordinates.

In a further embodiment of the system, the user can be patched(transferred or bridged) into a separate subsystem such as an outsidelive attendant, auto attendant or voicemail (VM). For example, in a realestate application, a user may be patched to a VM, while in a restaurantapplication, a user may be patched to a hostess.

In a further embodiment of the system, the user specific informationincludes details such as but not limited to the user's name, address, orPIN, demographic information such as, but not limited to, the locationof the display device, the user's area code.

In a further embodiment of the system, the display device may display aninvitation to visit a website address for users to get more information.The website may invite users to enter their telephone number into thesystem and, having entered their telephone number into the system, thesystem, having previously captured the user's telephone number, mayidentify the user and/or the products that they were interested in.

In a further embodiment of the system, there is an adaptive managementsystem, capable of changing content displayed on at least one displaydevice, according to the expected and resulting response rates of usersin order to maximize the effectiveness of marketing the said contentthat may be made in real-time. These adjustments may be made accordingto criteria such as, but not limited to, a frequency of responses, atiming of responses, a design of content and a pricing of responses, orsome combination thereof.

In a further embodiment of the system, there may be a proximity sensor,mounted in such a manner on or near the display device, so as to measurethe number of people passing within

range of each display device. The display device may be programmed toactivate on receiving a signal from a proximity sensor.

In a further embodiment of the invention, one of more logs are output toa Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the display device may beupdated according to information already known about the user.

In a further embodiment of the invention, multiple campaigns may be runsimultaneously using the same text or phone numbers or addresses anddifferentiated via the unique electronic address or phone numberassociated with each display device.

In a further embodiment of the invention, multiple campaigns may be runsimultaneously using the same text or phone numbers or addresses anddifferentiated via the unique content ID associated with everyinteractive content element.

In a further embodiment of the invention, when a user is known to thenetwork or system, i.e. the system has previously captured the user'sphone number or the user has registered with the system via the web,when that user connects to a particular location screen, the locationscreen can present personalized information for example based on theusers stored profile, or demographic information or on the user's priorbehavior in interacting with the system. For instance, if the userpreviously searched for real estate of a particular type, when the userconnects to a location screen, the screen may show the user real estateof a similar type in the vicinity of the current screen. Similarly, thesystem may present items or categories such as, but not limited to realestate, restaurants, hotels, automobiles or services that may be foundin the vicinity based on recognizing the user's telephone number andhaving access to the user's past preferences or search behavior ininteracting with the system.

In a further embodiment of the invention, a website may be configured toeffectively use phone numbers as cookies, i.e., the website isconfigured to understand that a user's phone number is either known ornew to the LocaModa ecosystem. When a user types their phone number intosuch a website, the website can display personalized informationrelating to the user's location experience. In one exemplary scenario, auser may view some item on a website using a location-based display,using their cellular phone to interact with the screen. Later, the usermay wish to review that item. They may then log onto the website from,for instance, their home or office computer and surf to the website.They may then be given an option to enter their cell phone number. Thewebsite may recognize the number and welcome the user back. The websitemay then also present the user with the pages seen at the remotelocation, or make that an option. For instance, a user may have beenlooking at real estate and seen a house they now want to show to someoneelse. In a further embodiment, the option to revisit a site seen at alocation may be made as part of a central service. A user may, forinstance, visit a home page of a location-based presentation serviceprovider, and have as one of the menu options, the ability to search byphone number a history of locations, sites and pages visited. Such aservice may be suitably protected by, for instance, a user password orother security arrangement.

In a further embodiment, a merchant website may have, as part of theirstandard registration, a telephone number aware field. In this way, inaddition to storing information such as credit card account andauthorization, shipping and billing addresses, user names and passwords,the merchant site may also store the user's cellular phone number. Then,when that merchant's site is accessed via a location-based display usingthat cellular phone, the site may recognize them and automaticallyprovide the ability to make secure purchases. For instance, if a sitesuch as the Amazon.com site is made cellular phone aware, a user loggingon to the site via a location-based display using a cellular phone, mayautomatically have their “one click” purchase account available to them.In this way, a website that has the LocaModa aware phone field, is nowable to offer products and services related to a user's locationexperience. As a further exemplary scenario, a user may interact with acity guide screen that offers a book of the city from a merchant suchas, but not limited to, Amazon.com at 50% off. The user later visits orsurfs Amazon.com, (this scenario presupposes that the user then types intheir phone number). Amazon then recognizes their phone number, andbecause the Amazon.com site is configured to be LocaModa aware andbecause the user is already an Amazon user, the website takes the userto the book and the user presses BUY.

In a further embodiment of the invention, a location-based display mayoffer services in which multiple users may participate at the same time.For instance, many users may participate in a game such as, but notlimited to, a game of chance. In an exemplary embodiment, a game, suchas, but not limited to Digital Pacinko may be displayed on a screen.Pacinko is a popular gambling game in Japan in which metal balls dropthrough a maze of pins. Prizes may be won dependent on where thedeflected balls end up. In digital Pacinko, the trajectory of image ofballs through a set of pins may be simulated using random numbers. In anIVR based version of the game on a location-based screen, users mayregister to participate by dialing into a number displayed on thescreen. Once connected, instructions may appear on the screen or theymay be relayed to individuals via voice messages. The voice message mayinstruct a particular user to choose a ball from a selection such as,choose ball 1, 2 or 3. When that user makes their selection by, forinstance pressing one of the available numbers, 2, on their telephone,that ball, number 2, will then drop through the pins and any prize maybe credited to that user.

In a further embodiment of the invention, as part of an IVR Game or asan advertising or promotional activity, an interactive avatar ormannequin may be configured by the user by selecting numbers,corresponding with options such as hair color, or body shape. The numberselection can be an aggregation of users' selections, for example, ifmost users select a number corresponding to “Warrior”, then theapplication could display a Warrior avatar.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the system may be used tofacilitate an IVR trivia contest, a poll, an election or other relatedgames. For instance, the network addressable screen may displayquestions with answer options. Users may then select a number on theirphone corresponding with the answer they believe is right. Multipleusers may play and the network addressable screen shows how many peopleare voting on each answer. The person/people with the most rightquestions may be recognized by the system and can be called back ordisplayed on screen in some manner such as, but not limited to, theirname, their picture, or their icon. The same feedback and recognitionmay be applied to the poll, election and other game applicationsdetailed above.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the system may providetakeaway information. The system may, for instance, send a userinformation relating to their interaction so they have something to“walk away” with that may help them continue the relationship with themarketer. The walk way item may be, but is not limited to, a textmessage, a URL or a MMS message, that may be downloaded to the user'scommunications device.

In a further embodiment the user may bookmark or phone mark an item or asite. This may be done by URL forwarding or by the system logging theinformation. For instance, a user may find information on alocation-based network addressable screen that may be bookmarked byselecting a number corresponding with an instruction in the system torecord that page as a bookmark. When the user later enters anidentifier, such as their user ID, pin or phone number in an enabledwebsite, the information that they found at the location-based networkidentifiable screen may be presented to them. In this way the systemeffectively enables a user to continue a search or journey begun on onenetwork to be continued on another network. The continuation may occurin either direction, so that a user researching product information on aweb using a home PC may, by bookmarking or phone marking thatinformation with an identifier such as their cellular phone number, maycontinue that search at a location-based network addressable screenusing their cellular phone to control the further interaction.

The bookmarked items may include any multi-media content including, notlimited to, documents, programs, images, video, pointers, addresses,URLs and/or permalinks In a further embodiment, the bookmark functionmay be used to subscribe or syndicate to updates by requesting forexample Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, on a particular product,or products similar to one selected, to be sent for example to theuser's phone or email address.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the system may be used as aninventory control. The system may, for instance, be designed to displayitems on sale, or items remaining. The system can then display a messagerequesting users to call to reserve an item. When the user collects theitem, which may occur on or off line, they may identify or verifythemselves using their phone number or other identifier.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the system may be used tofacilitate a graphic answering machine or PBX proxy visual guide. Theframework, for instance, may be used to enable a web-based, configurableanswer machine. In such a system, when a user calls a telephone numberfrom, for instance, their desk phone, a web page related to the companyor person being called may appear. The web page may indicate a companystructure, the availability or presence of various members of thecompany and give options to press to reach specific people, functions ordepartments. All this may be enabled by the proxy gateway architecturedetailed above. In this way a web-based answer machine framework mayprovide a rapid and graphic interface to enable phone users to find theperson or function they require without having to single step throughthe maze of voice prompt menu choices.

In a further embodiment, the system may be used to display other peoplehaving a shared interest. For instance, people who have entered theirinterests via, for instance, their phone or on-line, into the system,and enabled them to be viewed by others, may then identify others withsimilar interests in locations or on the web, from locations or from onthe web.

In a further embodiment the user may have a buddy list. As with peoplehaving a shared interest, linking buddy lists to the system, may allowusers to discover when or if buddies are logged into location screens,and so obtain, effectively, the presence of people and/or objects atthose locations.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the system may be used tofacilitate the exchange of play lists of songs. For instance, the systemmay be used to send, receive, capture or send alerts related to playlists of songs such as the well know iTunes play lists. The system may,for instance, enable users to display their play lists, or, if a userlikes a song playing on a LocaTag enabled system, they could requestinfo from that song or play list. Such info could be sent to theirphones or bookmarked to be browsed on line at a later date.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the system may be used tofacilitate an online auction. By carrying out an auction on a locationscreen, users can use their phones to engage with the same ecosystem asa web-based site.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the system may be integratedwith a navigating system such as, but not limited to, the globalpositioning system (GPS). For instance, for devices with in-built GPS,the system may send GPS coordinates to the mobile device enabling theuser to navigate to an advertised location.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the system may be used tofacilitate feedback, including immediate feedback, via a mobile device,such as a cellular phone to a website. For instance, diners at arestaurant could send feedback about a meal as it is happening orshortly after it happened. Other patrons at, for instance, a locationscreen in the bar, or prior to visiting the restaurant, or when making abooking may see the information.

In a further embodiment of the invention, camera enabled phones could beused to provide local images and video. For instance, pictures and othermedia from compatible phones and networks can be exchanged between thesystem and users.

In a further embodiment of the invention, a user could use preloadedinstruction blocks, or macros. For instance, members of the system couldpre-program or upload potted macros and/or search strings for thelocation experiences. A key word or set of symbols could be predefinedto stand for a much longer instruction. For example a macro for “findhi-fi bargains” could be downloaded, then when the user visits a mobileenabled hi-fi store, they call the system and are guided to thebargains, either by their telephone number being recognized as beingassociated with the macro, or by entering a particular key or set ofsymbols. In a city guide application, for instance, a user may have themacro, French Restaurants, then when they call the city guide, it takesthem directly to French Restaurants.

Although the invention has been described with respect to NetworkAddressable devices, one of ordinary skill in the art would readilyappreciate that such systems and methods may also be constructed whollyor in part using Network Identifiable device. A Network Identifiabledevice is one that may have a mono-directional relationship with thesystem, i.e., it can issue a command, but might not be able to respond.For example, a proximity detector connected to a RF transmitter couldfire off a command to play a movie, but is effectively “deaf,” i.e. notaddressable in any other sense.

Although the invention has been described with respect to devices inwhich the content is pushed to the client, one of ordinary skill in theart would readily appreciate that the systems and methods describedabove may be adapted to include clients that poll for content. Suchsystems may have disadvantages with respect to the preferred embodimentsof the present system in that, for instance, they would be less scalableand make less efficient use of bandwidth, they may, however, beapplicable in particular circumstances.

Although the invention has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarilylimited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specificfeatures and acts are disclosed as exemplary forms of implementing theclaimed invention.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

In the field of advertising there is significant interest in thelocation-based advertising systems and methods of this invention, sothat advertisers may, without pushing information or messages, reachpotential customers physically at or near a location where the itemsbeing advertised can be viewed or purchased.

Such systems and methods would be of considerable utility for a varietyof merchants including realtors, travel agents, car dealers andsupermarkets.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: in association with a firsttransaction, receiving information identifying a mobile communicationdevice; storing, in a location other than on the communication device:the mobile communication device identifying information received inassociation with the first transaction; and other information related tothe first transaction; in association with a subsequent transaction:receiving information identifying the mobile communication device; andcompleting the subsequent transaction by using: the mobile communicationdevice identifying information received in association with thesubsequent transaction; the stored mobile communication deviceidentifying information; and the stored information related to the firsttransaction.
 2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein completing thesubsequent transaction comprises displaying, to a user of the mobilecommunication device, on a screen other than a screen on the mobilecommunication device, information related to the first transaction.
 3. Amethod as defined in claim 1, further comprising: in association withthe first transaction, receiving information identifying an account; andstoring, in a location other than on the mobile communication device,the received account information; and wherein completing the subsequenttransaction comprises: accepting a purchase request; and using thestored account information to fund the purchase request.
 4. A method asdefined in claim 1, wherein the first transaction is initiated by themobile communication device.
 5. A method as defined in claim 1, whereinthe first transaction is initiated by a device other than the mobilecommunication device.
 6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein thesubsequent transaction is initiated by the mobile communication device.7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the subsequent transaction isinitiated by a device other than the mobile communication device.
 8. Amethod as defined in claim 1, wherein the information identifying themobile communication device comprises a telephone number of the mobilecommunication device.
 9. A method as defined in claim 1, whereinreceiving the information identifying the mobile communication device inassociation with the first transaction comprises automatically receivingthe mobile communication device identifying information.
 10. A method asdefined in claim 1, wherein receiving the information identifying themobile communication device in association with the first transactioncomprises receiving an indication of user-entered identifyinginformation.
 11. A method according to claim 10, wherein receiving theinformation identifying the mobile communication device comprisesproviding a visual display on a device other than the mobilecommunication device inviting the user to enter into the first or thesecond transaction.
 12. A method as defined in claim 1, whereinreceiving the information identifying the mobile communication device inassociation with the subsequent transaction comprises automaticallyreceiving the mobile communication device identifying information.
 13. Amethod as defined in claim 1, wherein receiving the informationidentifying the mobile communication device in association with thesubsequent transaction comprises receiving an indication of user-enteredidentifying information.
 14. A method according to claim 13, whereinreceiving the information identifying the mobile communication devicecomprises providing a visual display on a device other than the mobilecommunication device inviting the user to enter into the first or thesecond transaction.